In a typical flow rack, a pair of inclined rails are mounted in horizontally spaced relation to a series of uprights for supporting loaded pallets. Loaded pallets are inserted at the rear of the rack and flowed by suitable gravity operated means to an unloading position at the front of the rack. In a push-in type flow rack, the pallets are normally loaded and unloaded at the front of the rack, being pushed backward up the inclined rails during loading and flowing forward down the rails during unloading.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,069, a flow rack having pallets with speed control means associated therewith is provided. The speed control means functions to limit the speed of the loaded pallets as they advance down the rails. In certain embodiments of this patented flow rack, the pallets are designed so that they can be removed from the rack, loaded and replaced.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,313, a three pallet position push-in flow rack is disclosed. In the disclosed push-in flow rack, a pair of dollies are mounted for movement on inclined rails. One dollie is higher than the other and is designed to nest with respect to the other at the front end of the rack when the rack is unloaded. During loading, a load is placed first on the higher dollie. Then, as a second load is placed in the rack on the lower dollie, the first loaded dollie is pushed rearwardly. Thereafter, as a third load is placed on the rails in the rack, the first and second loaded dollies are pushed rearwardly. Thus, when fully loaded, the rack contains three loaded pallets arranged end-to-end. As first and second loads are removed from the dollies, they roll down the rails toward the front of the rack. A similar arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,500. Other types of storage systems having live bottoms are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,038,613; 3,179,258; 3,399,784; and 4,136,783.
While the apparatus disclosed in the aforementioned patents may function satisfactorily for their intended purposes, there is a need for improved load transfer apparatus for push-in flow racks, which apparatus is compact to enable a maximum volume of goods to be stored in a minimum of space, which can be manufactured readily, which is rugged in construction, which is relatively trouble-free in operation, and which can be retrofitted into existing push-in flow racks.